Portal Funduszy Europejskich

Serwisy Funduszy Europejskich

Main definitions

Aid Beneficiary- An entity carrying out a business activity regardless of the organisation and legal form as well as the way of financing who gained the public aid.

Application for co-financing the project- Document submitted by the potential beneficiary to the Implementing Authority in order to obtain financial resources to realise the project under the programme.

Audit- The number of actions carried out in order to obtain independent assessment of institutions functioning, legality, economy, appropriateness, reliability. Audit is usually carried out by separate section directly subordinate to the head of an institution (internal audit) or by external entity (external audit).

Beneficiary - A natural person, legal person or organisational unit having no legal personality, taking the advantage of European and national funds on the basis of Contract for co-financing for the project or on the basis of a decision made by a competent Minister if he performs a function of Managing Authority or Intermediate Body, or by the voivode if he performs a function of Intermediate Body.

Brownfield - Investment in post-industrial areas.

Business Plan- A document made by companies which plans and analyses the future undertaking.

Competitiveness- The ability to achieve success in economic competition and in a wider perspective ability to expand locating goods and services on international markets while simultaneously guaranteeing the real rise of earnings of people for a long time. Competitiveness is also the ability to establish and maintain the environment which favours the creation of higher value added by enterprises and achievement of a better well-being by people.

Cross-financing- Flexible way of financing projects consists in co-financing within the project of complementary measures in the scope of ESF by using ERDF funds and co-financing within the project of complementary measures in the scope of ERDF by using ESF funds.In other words, if the project concerns infrastructural investment it is possible to include in the project the so-called soft expenditure (that is, for example, costs of trainings and counselling) on condition that the incurrence of these expenditure is justified by achievement of coherence of the project. Similarly if the project is of a soft character (i.e. concerns trainings, counselling, raising competences, introducing new organisational solutions etc.) it can be completed by certain material expenditure (as well as e.g. appliance) but only those which are needed for the realisation and success of the project. Nevertheless this possibility concerns up to max 10% of expenditure included by co-financing – in special cases this limit may be raised to 15%.

Decision - Community act binding for particular institutions, enterprises and Member States.

Development project- Research project established on the basis of the Act on rules of financing science constituting the foundation for practical applications, realised in order to implement its results mainly by SMEs.

Development works- Works using knowledge to date in order to create new or improve existing materials, products, instruments, services, processes, systems or methods.

Directives - Form of Community acts. It is legally binding but when the realisation of the objective and date of the measure is concerned, it gives addressees a free hand in selecting means and methods of its implementation in the national legal systems.

Eligibility of expenditure- Expenditure is eligible when it was incurred within the approved project realised with the participation of European Funds. Community regulations, regulations included in particularisations of programmes and alternately other additional regulations laid down by the Managing Authority decide on the eligibility of expenditure.

Eligibility of projects - Project is eligible that is it may be approved for co-financing from European Funds if it is complaint with requirements of a given fund and community policies, is coherent with the approved programme and fulfil detailed criteria determined for a given measure in particularisation of the programme.

Eligible costs- Costs the incurrence of which is substantively justified and which fulfil criteria of validity set by the Managing Authority. The rules of eligibility of costs defined in relation to dates of their incurrence, entity which incurred them and category of expenditure connected with the realisation of the project were determined in annexes to the particularisations of programmes. Community regulations, regulations included in particularisations of programmes and alternately other additional regulations laid down by the Managing Authority decide on the eligibility of costs.

European Charter for Small Enterprises- Document defining areas in which measures should be taken up including: education and training regarding entrepreneurship, decreased costs and easier start of activity, more efficient legislation and better regulations, accessibility of trainings, extensive activity being outside the single market, taxation and financial issues, increasing technological possibilities of small enterprises, development of stronger and more efficient representation of interests of small enterprises at the level of EU and particular Member States.

Evaluation - Assessment/estimation of the quality (stage) of realisation of the programme (i.e. its actual results) in relation to previous principles (i.e. expected results). Contrary to monitoring or control, evaluation is related to long-term effects (influence). The basic objective of evaluation is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of programmes realised by public authorities. It is conducted in order to achieve positive social and economic effects directly connected with a given programme and to promote actions taken up by public authorities. Evaluation is conducted as: ex-ante evaluation, mid-term evaluation and ex-post evaluation.

Ex-ante evaluation- Evaluation conducted before the start of realisation of the programme. Its basic task is to verify long-term effects of support included in the prepared programming documents. The basic objective of ex-ante evaluation is to increase the quality of programming documents by the participation in the programming period of the entity which is independent of the programming institution. Ex-ante evaluation is to ensure that the funds allocated for the realisation of policy to decrease differences in the level of development among particular regions of European Union will be used in a way which guarantees achieving the best effects.Ex-post evaluation- Evaluation made after the completion of the realised programme. The main objective of this evaluation is to define long-term effects of the programme including the amount of involved resources, efficiency and effectiveness of granted aid. The main objective of ex-post evaluation is mostly to provide information on the long-term effects which appeared during the implementation of a given programme along with the definition of conclusions concerning the direction of structural policy.

Feasibility study- Study conducted in the stage of formulating the project verifying whether a given project is well-based for realisation and whether it matches the individual needs of beneficiaries. Study should constitute the plan of the project. It must include all defined and critically analysed operational details of its implementation that is trading, technical, financial, economic, institutional, socio-cultural conditions and conditions connected with natural environment. Feasibility study allows to define financial and economic profitability and as a result it creates a clear justification of the objective of the realisation of the project.

Final beneficiary- Institution or public and private company responsible for commissioning transactions. In the case of aid programmes the final beneficiaries are the institutions granting the aid. There are two types of final beneficiaries: implementing authorities and the final recipients of aid.

Final payment of the balance- Payment made after completion of the programme or project constituting the final part of funds within the financial aid and enabling to settle financial obligations of the European Commission.Starting point for the eligibility of expenditure - Moment of starting admissibility of disbursement of funds in a given programme or project to co-finance them from European Funds.

Financial control - Mechanisms and means ensuring proper functioning of the process of gathering and distribution of national and community resources. Financial control includes managerial control and audit.

Financial monitoring- Monitoring of management of resources from European Funds allocated for the realisation of programmes and projects is the base for the assessment of effectiveness of their disbursement.

Foresight- Definition of the directions of research which are meant to contribute to the dynamic economic development in the future.

General objective- An objective defining the perspective in which aid is to be granted, including general strategy of aid and some detailed objectives; specifying desirable picture of reality during the time of the programme implementation.

Generator of applications- Computer programme used to fill and print applications for co-financing or others, available on the Internet.

Grant - Direct payment, not of a commercial character, made by the Contracting Entity for a definite beneficiary so that he would take up proper actions (and in some cases would finance part of the project budget) promoting e.g. objectives of the EU structural policy.

Grant scheme- Type of project of a character of a subsidy fund assigned to realise a particular issues. In a case of this kind of project, the operator of the fund distributing subsidies among ultimate recipients is regarded as the final beneficiary of aid.

Greenfield - Investment in areas not previously used for industry or services.

Greyfield - Investment in deserted areas, in unused facilities.

Individual Projects- Individual projects are characterised by strategic meaning for realisation of the programme and are indicated by the Managing Authority. The Managing Authority or the Intermediate Body may also indicate by name the beneficiary of the individual project. Realisation of individual projects is possible only in problem areas defined by the Managing Authority for particular areas of support. These areas should result directly from the sector, voivodeship strategies or other programmes approved for a given area of support.

Innovation - The ability of enterprises to create and implement innovations and real skill in introducing new and modernised products, new and altered technological or organisational and technical processes.

Interim payment- Payment made during the realisation of the programme of project constituting the defined part of funds within the financial aid. This payment is made by the European Commission in order to return expenditure really paid by the Funds and certified by the Paying Authority.

JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) - The task of this initiative is to facilitate the access to capital for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises by creating capital and guarantee funds.

JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment In City Areas)- This initiative is dedicated to restoration and development of cities.

Knowledge-based economy- Economy which is characterised by the rapid development of fields connected with processing of information and development of science, particularly branches of industry included to the so-called high technology and also techniques and services of information society.

Measure - Aid instrument implementing the operational priority within the programme, of a separate purpose and principles of realisation; group of project realising the same objective within the priority of the programme.

Mid-term evaluation- Evaluation conducted during the realisation of the programme. Its objective is to estimate the progress of assumed objectives in the light of previously conducted ex-ante evaluation especially regarding provided products and achieved results and to define the accuracy of objectives compared to the current socio-economic trends. The results of mid-term evaluation serve possible modifications of programming documents. The information provided by this evaluation should be used in the preparation of the programme in the next programming period.

Monitoring - Consistent observation of selected indicators illustrating the dynamics and structure of occurrences included by objectives of projects and programmes aiming at providing returnable information on the compliance of the realisation process of these documents with their schedule.

National Support Structure (NSS)/National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Document defining the strategy of socio-economic development and the method of implementing EU funds in Poland for years 2007-2013. Elaboration of NSS and its acceptance by the European Commission was necessary to start the implementing process of programmes financed by European Funds in Poland.

Overall (global) evaluation- The basic instrument used in structural policy of the European Union. The subject of global evaluation is the whole programme realised with the financial contribution of the Community.

Own contribution- Amount defined in the contract for co-financing the project or decision for co-financing, part of the disbursement incurred by the beneficiary for its realisation, non-returnable.

Payment - Defined amount of funds within the financial aid paid by the European Commission to the Paying Authority on the basis of application for payment.

Payment application- Document submitted by the potential beneficiary to the Implementing Authority in order to obtain financial resources to realise the project under the programme.

Physical monitoring- Monitoring of the progress of realising programmes and projects through the system of indicators defined in the programming documents.

Project leader- it is the entity which leads the group of entities jointly realising the project within the Partnership. This entity is responsible for management and settlement of the project.

Project selection criteria - Set of definite formal and substantive requirements included in particularisation of the programme which must be fulfilled by project in order to obtain co-financing from public community funds. In case of European Funds the criteria of selection are formulated by the Managing Authority and then approved by the Monitoring Committee.

Project/task- Undertaking realised within the measure which is a subject of the contract for co-financing the project between the beneficiary and the Managing Authority, Implementing Authority or Intermediate Body operating on behalf of the Managing Authority. The smallest unit which may be distinguished constitute the subject of aid.

Public-private partnership- Cooperation between public entity and private partner used for realisation of public task within which the private partner would incur the whole or partial expenditure to perform the undertaking being the subject of cooperation or would ensure the incurrence of expenditure by third parties.

Regional development- Increase of economic potential of regions and permanent improvement of their competitiveness and standard of life of inhabitants which contributes to the socio-economic development of the country.

Reimbursement of expenditure- Return from the European Commission of expenditure realised within the aid after their certification by the Paying Authority. Reimbursement of expenditure is made in a form of periodic payments or final balance.

Sub-category of intervention- Specific thematic issue within the categorization of European Funds which are included in the field of socio-economic activity e.g. investments in agricultural holdings, services for tourist industry, building of roads.

Sustainable Development- Explained also as permanent socio-economic development in which the process occurs of integrating political, economic and social actions maintaining the environmental balance and durability of basic environmental processes, in order to guarantee the possibility of satisfy basic needs of particular societies or citizens of the contemporary as well the future generations.

SWOT analysis- A method that allows to analyse strengths and weaknesses of the region/entrepreneur/sector/economy towards opportunities and threats posed by the environment. The short comes from the first letters of English words strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.

Total cost - Total cost of planned actions or operations taking eligible costs and other (which do not fulfil the criteria of eligibility) into consideration.